Don’t fill potholes on your own, it’s illegal, BMC tells Mumbaiites

Praveen Pardeshi pulled up the chief engineer of roads and ward officers for their poor response to online complaints regarding potholes.

mumbaiUpdated: Aug 25, 2019 04:00 IST

Steffy Thevar

Hindustan Times, Mumbai

BMC on Saturday asked citizens to not fill potholes by themselves (HT FILE)

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday asked citizens to not fill potholes by themselves as it is illegal. This comes a day after civic chief Praveen Pardeshi pulled up the chief engineer of roads and ward officers for their poor response to online complaints regarding potholes. There has been a rise in the number of complaints since the monsoon started.

“Dear Mumbaikars, Always approach @mybmc to fix the potholes. It is the legal and correct way. Avoid filling any potholes on your own using debris. Using incorrect methods may lead to accidents. It is illegal,” the BMC tweeted. Citizen activists who’ve been filling potholes, however, slammed the tweet. Irfan Machiwala, an activist from Mahim,, said, “Why would anyone leave their job and fill potholes? When all options are shut and the BMC is not responding to our plaints, we’re compelled to do it. Once I met the father of a man who lost his life due to a pothole. Now he uses his money to fill potholes so that no more lives are lost.”